B2B is a great San Francisco tradition. As recently as 2004, the neighbors along the route looked forward to and often participated in the event. However, in the last few years, B2B’s impact on the host neighborhoods has been significant.
Neighbors have had to deal with urination on their homes, mounds of trash and outright bullying. Last year, Hayes street between Divisadero and Stanyan, became a parallel event with participates disrespecting and destroying both public and private property. I think we can agree this type of behavior is not desirable and not in the spirit of Bay to Breakers.
After last year’s B2B, nine neighborhood groups along the route (from Hayes Valley to Inner Park Sunset) formed the Neighborhood Task Force on the 100th Bay to Breakers. Working with AEG, city officials, and SFPD, the task forces aim was to address past planning and resource deficiencies, improve participant behavior, and hopefully help preserve the event we used to enjoy hosting. I believe we have succeeded on the resource and planning front. Here are some of the changes:
A 30% increase in bathroom capacity including over 30 six-man urinals in and around Alamo Square and the Panhandle
Bathrooms on both sides of the course
Clean up crews presence during the entire event and well after
Strategic placement of barriers and fencing
Our efforts these past months have not been to sterilize Bay to Breakers, rather to make it fun for everyone. So have fun, but in so doing, please be respectful of the host neighborhoods. If that happens, I’m confident we can preserve B2B for years to come.
Jarie Bolander, President of NOPNA and spokesmen for the task force
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I’m glad you and your neighbors are getting together to make this event a better, safer, desirable event for everyone. I am flying in from the midwest to take part in this. My brother is flying in from Boston. We were raised in the South Bay Area.
We will be joining an long-time friend, who is a coach for the San Francisco Road Runners club. They use this as one of their events to get people interested in running. They start in the early spring/late winter to get their 101′rs ready to enjoy the running lifestyle. We hope to join them in their endeavor next month.
Thank you and your neighbors for helping with this event. Hopefully everyone will appreciate and respect you and your’s.
Just got a peak at your flyer/handout. Are you seriously telling people who they can invite to their parties? “Please only family and friends.” You have got to be kidding me. I get that you want to get things more under control, but thousands of other people don’t agree with you. Take your “family fun” somewhere else for the day. Don’t ruin it for everybody.
As a resident that lives in a large apartment building at the corner of Fell and Central, I have to say that 2011 was a disaster:
1) The fencing actually caused people to overflow the sidewalks and climb up onto the three-foot elevated area surrounding the building, ruining the landscaping.
2) The portable toilets, instead of being all inside the Panhandle, were split, with some put beside our buildings. This caused people to get tired of the long lines, and, you guessed it, urinate on the buildings.
Instead of making our neighborhood an armed camp for a day, go back to the way it was four years ago, and just put ample portable toilets in the Panhandle. If you look at how large events like this are handled in NYC, or in major cities in Europe, our number of portable toilets is laughably low. Also, in Europe, they actually use urinals that wrap around the trees for some events. It is just for one day, and they’ve realized that on a per tree basis the trees can handle a little urine.
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